BSP goes into huddle, plans to redraw its election campaign

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) went into huddle following Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court staying caste based rallies. A meeting of the senior party leaders was held under the chairmanship of party supremo Mayawati to discuss the fall out of the judgement on the fortune of the party in the coming Lok Sabha election.

The party leaders refused to comment on the court order. “Party is studying the court order” a BSP leader said and added “behanji (Mayawati) is in Lucknow and she would speak over the issue”. The mobile phones of the majority of the BSP leaders were switched off and other remained tight-lipped. The state unit office said a press release would be issued by the party in the evening, but in vain.

In a meeting organised in the state unit office on Wednesday, Mayawati had praised the leaders for the successful organisation of the Brahmin bhai-chara (brotherhood) rally in 38 Lok Sabha seats. National general secretary and Brahmin face of the party SC Mishra made whirlwind tour of the state organising rallies to woo the Brahmin community. On July 7, Mayawati addressed Brahmin bhaichara rally on Ramabai Ambedkar ground. She called upon the Brahmins to join hand with the Dalits for balance of power at the center.

The social engineering formula- Dalit- Upper Caste- Backward combination helped the BSP in forming government on its own in 2007 assembly election. To consolidate the upper caste vote BSP mellowed down its dalit tenor as Mayawati said that BSP is now a Sarva Samaj party. She even raised the demand for reservation in government jobs for the poor among the upper castes.

A BSP leader said party might challenge the high court order in the Supreme Court. We are awaiting the final order of the court on the issue. In view of the high court order, the party would redraw its strategy he said and added each senior leader had been entrusted with the task to woo his caste to support BSP in the coming Lok Sabha election.

To woo the other castes BSP has planned to organise, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Maurya, Kushwaha, Pal, Shakya, Saini, Kayastha, Bhumihar, Kurmi and Gujjar/ Jat bhai chara meetings in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. Over two dozen Muslim bahi chara meetings had been organised under the chairmanship of the national general secretary, Naseemuddin Siddiqui. On Wednesday, Mayawati has directed the leaders to gear up for the bhai chara meetings and to ensure that members of all the castes were included in the booth committees constituted by the party.